You’re watching an away game at your house and the Tigers just lost, so you and your friends drive to the nearest Raising Cane’s to drown your sorrows in fast food.
When it’s time for you to place your order, the cashier looks up and down at you and points to a sign on the wall.
“We reserve the right to serve or not serve any customer that contradicts our religious beliefs as an organization,” it says.
While this is most likely not going to happen at your neighborhood Cane’s, Texas state Sen. Donna Campbell introduced a resolution on Nov. 10 that proposes a Texas constitutional amendment effectively allowing businesses to turn away LGBT customers — or fire LGBT employees — on the basis of religious freedom.
Senate Joint Resolution 10 says the “government may not burden an individual’s or religious organization’s freedom of religion or right to act or refuse to act in a manner motivated by a sincerely held religious belief unless the government proves that the burden is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest.”
To put the law plainly, the government can’t say you have to be nice to people or behave a certain way around them if it contradicts your religious beliefs.
Basically, one person’s beliefs are more important than another’s civil rights.
We are entitled to our own beliefs, and no one can judge us or discriminate against us because of those beliefs. However, the same expectation should be extended for our race, sexual orientation and gender preferences.
Why are public officials like Campbell trying to make it even more difficult for people to live their lives?
It’s because they fail to consider the other side’s point of view.
The white Christian American feels attacked when a person like me writes columns like this. They feel attacked when the government tries to enforce a law that would force them to accept LGBT employees, and they take this as a clear violation of their right to believe whatever they want.
But they fail to realize that legally allowing people to discriminate based on their religious beliefs violates the rights of an entire community.
A person who identifies within the LGBT community faces subtle discrimination every day. Children go to school afraid of being themselves because of what their peers might say or do to them. Same-sex couples fear Tigerland or other bars because someone might harass or attack them.
Religious freedom is already guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
27 states including Texas and Louisiana do not have any legislation forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
So is the chance that someday a government official might be able to enact such a law the reason enough to give an individual the legal right to discriminate?
I think our society does a good job keeping discrimination alive just fine on its own.
This resolution, like many others that were introduced in Kansas, North Carolina, South Dakota, Arizona and Oregon this year, will ultimately fail. Not because the legislative branch is trying to change social norms or because it’s out to get the white Christians of America, but because it’s unnecessary.
No one is ever going to succeed at forcing certain religious organizations to accept the LGBT community. Houston Mayor Annise Parker tried and failed after a national outcry earlier this year. No one is ever going to force you to invite a same-sex couple over for dinner.
But don’t expect them to give you the legal right to be a jerk in public because that’s never going to happen, either.
Jose Bastidas is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Caracas, Venezuela. Follow him on Twitter @jabastidas.